Adapter for flashlight and revolver



2g LLUMlHMON@ 2 sheets-sheet '2' Filed Dec. 9, l1940 249. RLLUMINIION,

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Patented Mar. 16, 1943 Search 2,314,061

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to an adapter for flashlight and revolver and ingeneral relates to an improvement over the sighting device described andclaimed in my United States Patent 2,132,063, patented October 4, 1938for Flashlamp.

On page 1, lines 35 to 53 of the above patent, the statement is madethat the flashlight must not "be longer than the barrel of the gun asotherwise the muzzle blast would impinge on and damage the flashlightand dislodge the ashlight from proper seating relation upon the gun. Asa consequence, the construction illustrated in the above patent,involves the use of a special type of ashlight. I now nd that if theflashlight is longer than the barrel, the above noted damage is notserious and is more than offset by the convenience of being able to usea conventional flashlight. Consequently I have simplified and improvedthe patented construction, and have provided an adapter for removablyholding a conventional type of flashlight as a unit which may or may notproject beyond the muzzle. The accuracies of alignment of the gun withthe flashlight as described in my former patent are substantiallyretained in the present simplified and improved construction. Thepresent invention is illustrated by several embodiments, some of whichare made of sheet metal which may be flexible enough so that it can bebent to permit slight adjustment of alignment of the gun with theashlight.

An ob-ject of the invention, therefore, is to provide an adapter whichwill accommodate a conventional liashlight and which will serve as arest to accurately align the gun with the flashli ht.

gFor further details of the invention reference may be made to thedrawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of one form of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the adapter of Fig. 1, thesection being taken on line 2--2` of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a View in end elevation of the adapter Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a front View in elevation of another modified form of adapterwhich serves as a rest for the frame of the firearm, and with which theclamp of Fig. 7 may be associated. In other Words, Fig. 8 is amodification of the clamp of Fig. 6.

Fig. 9 is a perspective View of the adapter shown in Fig. 8.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the adapter shown in Figs. l to 4comprises an adapter I having a socket 2 to receive the end of aconventional ashlight 3. The adapter I is provided with a band 4 whichencircles an intermediate portion of the casing 63 of the flashlight 3.Band 4 may be secured to the adapter I by screws such as 5. The adapterI may be cast of a single piece of material such as metal and it has anL shaped recess 6 lying between the spaced parallel L shaped flanges 9and I0. Recess 6 as shown in Fig. 2, embraces the lower half of thebarrel 'I and the sides and front of the frame 8 of the firearm. Flange9 may be higher than flange I0 as shown in Fig. 3 to guide the barrel 1laterally into the recess 6. The adapter I has a wall II as shown inFig. 2 which forms the bottom of the socket 2. On one side of this wallII is a band I2 which supports and surrounds the end of the flashlight3. The other side of wall II has an angular L shaped support on rest I3against the vertical portion I4 of which the front of the frame 8 isadapted to flt and rest, and against the top I5 of which the bottom ofthe frame 8 is adapted to fit and rest. The adapter I, underneath theend of the barrel 'I is provided with a projection I6 having asemi-circular recess 66 to support the end of the barrel 1.

The flashlight 3 may be held in the hand, with the rearm I'I removablyresting on the adapter I as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The ashlight 3 maybe readily removed from the adapter I by removing one or both of thescrews 5 to remove the clamping band 4.

Instead of casting the adapter I of a single piece of metal or othermaterial, with a band 4 therefor, I may make the adapter in the form oftwo sheet metal clamping bands 20 and 2| as shown in Fig. 5. Here againthe adapter 20 and 2l accommodates a conventional flashlight 3 which maybe held in one hand, while the revolver I 'I is held by the other hand.Band 20 as shown in Fig. '7 comprises two similar pieces of sheet metaleach having an intermediate semi-circular portion 22-26 which surroundsand fits the casing of the flashlight 3. lThe band portion 22 terminatesat its lower end in van apertured lug 23 through which a clamping bolt24 is adapted to pass, this bolt also passing through a similarapertured lug 25 on the companion band portion 26. The band portions 22and 26 at their upper ends have radially extending flat lug portions 21and 28 respectively, apertured to receive a clamping bolt 29. The lugs21 and 28 terminate in concave portions 30 and 3| to form asubstantially semi-circular rest for the end of the barrel 1.

The band 2| may if desired as shown in Fig. 6, be formed of a singlepiece of sheet metal, having terminal lugs 32 and 33 adapted to besecured by the clamping bolt 34 and having intermediate semi-circularportions 35 and 36 adapted to encircle and clamp the end of flashlight3. The portions 35 and 36 have spaced parallel upwardly extendingportions 31 and 38 which are spaced apart to form a recess 39 to receivethe front of the frame 8 and the adjoining portion of the barrel 1 asshown in Fig. 5. The lugs 31 and 38 are apertured to receive a clampingbolt 4D which with the bolt 34 may be employed to clamp the adapter 2|around the end of the flashlight 3 as shown in Fig. 5. The lugs 31 and38 for a portion of the width thereof, have an integral elongatedportion which is bent back to form an integral U shaped portion 4 I,with the one leg 42 of the U 4| lying close against the inside of lug31, and with the other leg 43 of the U 4| lying close against inside oflug 38, and with the bight 44 of the U forming a flat shelf on which thebottom of the frame 8 is adapted to rest. The leg 42 has bent at rightangles thereto a lug 45, the back of which serves as a stop for the endof iiashlight 3, and the front of which serves as a rest for the frontof frame 8.

In the form shown in Fig. 8, the adapter 50 which is clamped to the endof flashlight 3, and with which the iront clamp of Fig. '1 may beassociated, may be formed by drawing or stamping a single flat sheet ofmetal. If desired, this drawing or stamping may be accomplished in oneoperation, a T shaped slot may be Cut in the bottom and back of adapter50 so that the lugs 5| and 52 may be turned out in a second operation,and if desired the nut and bolt head recesses 53 and 54 may be stampedor formed in a third operation, although this third operation may beomitted if desired. As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, adapter 58 comprises a Ushaped side wall 55 which forms a socket to house the end of flashlight3 which can be inserted into the adapter 50 until the end of theflashlight strikes the other side of the vertical wall 56, the front ofwhich ts and forms a rest for the front of the frame 8. The adapter 58is provided with a recess 51 resulting in walls 58 and 59 which arespaced apart to embrace the front of frame 8 and the adjacent portion ofbarrel 1, like the lugs 31 and 38 in Fig. 6. The bottom of recess 51 issomewhat Z shaped, the upper branch 60 of the Z forming a horizontalportion which may not serve as a rest for the firearm as it is notneeded for this purpose. The middle branch of the Z comprises the wall56 before mentioned, and the bottom branch 6I of the Z comprises anextended flat portion like the shelf 44 in Fig. 6 to t and support thebottom of the frame 8. The opposite sides of the wall 55 are aperturedto receive a clamping bolt 62 which passes underneath the shelf 60 asshown in Fig. 8. The bolt 62, with the bolt 63 which passes through lugsI and 52 may be employed to clamp the end of a conventional flashlight 3in the socket provided by the adapter 50.

In the forms shown in Figs. 5 and 9, the various adapters may be made ofsheet metal Which is light enough so that it may be bent slightly fromthe shape shown in order to accommodate the ashlight and support it withits axis parallel to the barrel 1.

It will be understood that the band I2 in Fig. 2, like the band 35, 36in Fig. 6, and the band formed by the Wall 55 in Fig. 8, in effect eachconstitute a ledge which is adapted to underlie and support the end ofthe flashlight 3. Also, the casing 63 of the ashlight 3 is here shown ascylindrical but it may have other shapes, but in any event it containsall of the usual batteries for the flashlight 3. If more than onebattery is employed as is usual, all of these batteries would be inalignment, as distinguished from having two of them offset laterally andarranged at right angles to the axis of the light beam as shown in Fig.5 of my former patent, and as distinguished from the use of an L shapedflashlight casing as shown in Fig. 8 of that patent.

Various changes may be made in the invention without departing from thespirit of the following claims. For example the various clamping bandsshown my be slightly larger than the ashlight so that conventional shimsnot shown may be employed to adjust the axis of the flashlight intoparallel relationship with the barrel 1 when it is in position on theadapter.

I claim:

1. A firearm adapter comprising a socket adapted to receive the end of aashlight, said socket having a band adapted to surround the end of aflashlight casing, the exterior of said socket having integral therewithspaced side walls with a shelf at the end of said socket providing anopen groove to removably receive and support the lower front corner ofthe frame of a iirearm with the bottom of said corner resting on saidshelf opposite the end of the flashlight, means for attachment toanother portion of the flashlight, and means providing an open rest forthe end of the barrel of the firearm associated with said last mentionedmeans, said open groove being so located on said socket and said openrest being so located on said attachment means that when said socket andattachment means are in position on a flashlight, said rest and saidgroove are in position to support the firearm with the axis of thebarrel of the rearm substantially parallel to the axis of saidflashlight and above the iiashlight when the latter is horizontal, saidopen groove and said open rest being free from attachment to the rearmand opening outwardly in the plane of the axes of the firearm barrel andthe flashlight to permit the rearm to readily separate from said adapteron recoil.

2. A firearm adapter comprising a socket having a band to encircle theend of a conventional ashlight casing, said band having integraltherewith and on the exterior thereof a pair of spaced walls extendingpart way across the end of said band and lengthwise thereof and formingan open groove to receive the sides and front of the frame of a firearm,a shelf between said Walls at the end of said band, means for attachmentto an intermediate portion of the flashlight, said attachment meanscomprising an open rest for the end of the barrel of the firearm, saidopen groove being so located on said band and said open rest being solocated on said attachment means that when said band and attachmentmeans are in position on a iiashlight, said rest and said groove are inposition to support the 24a maxaman,

earch Roem rearm with the axis of the barrel of the firearm andsubstantially parallel to the axis of a fiashsubstantially parallel tothe axis of said flashlight and above the flashlight when the latter ishorizontal, said open groove and said open rest being free fromattachment to the rearm and opening outwardly in the plane of the axesof the firearm barrel and the ashlight to permit the firearm to readilyseparate from said adapter on recoil.

3. Means for supporting a firearm barrel above light, said meanscomprising a socket to receive the end of the flashlight, said sockethaving an external shelf opposite the bottom of said socket, said shelfextending substantially parallel to the axis of said socket and forminga support for the bottom of the frame of the firearm, and externalspaced walls on said socket and associated With said shelf for embracingthe sides of said frame.

GEORGE W. WHALEY.

